This year's Big Day Out may well mark the most significant point in the demise of the music festival as we know it. From it's very inception it was fraught with major issues. The 20th anniversary of one of Australia's first and most popular festivals should have been celebrated with a suitable lineup of killer must-see headliners, and a generous variety of excellent local bands- in every state.
Instead we were treated to international acts that had already made it to Splendour not six months prior (e.g. Kanye West, Foster the People, The Vaccines), and the usual run-of-the-mill or past-their-prime local filler (The Living End, Hilltop Hoods, Faker, etc.). Furthermore, the depressingly gaping holes in the Perth and Adelaide schedules where headliners should have filled; unnecessary clashes (sorry Noel Gallagher); and a way-too-public falling out between promotors Viv Lees and Ken West (Ken West having done a Charlie Sheen with the amount of mental interviews he gave, spitting criticism at everyone but himself) also made the formulation of this year's festival a spectacular disaster.
So.. why the hell did I attend?
Well, 2 reasons. 1. Kanye West was announced, and I had missed his show at Splendour that year. and, 2. My sister wanted to have her first festival experience with her friends, which became her christmas present, and it was deemed easy for mum to give us all BDO tickets for christmas, since us Fornasier children were now all infected with the Kanye virus. I would definitely not have spent money on this event (which, as you would expect, didn't even sell out). So, there I went.
We started the day by checking out the Triple J Unearthed competition winners Dunerats. Already well into their set they were a smiling bunch of young fellas with long hair and a hazy, breezy attitude. Their music was of an Eddy Current Suppression Ring venacular with a dash of Tame Impala, with very casual subject matter: frontman X introducing one of his songs as being about "smoking cones and playing Xbox". They played well and had a pleasantly grungy feel, but I couldn't help but wonder if they were seriously the best band out of all of the competition entrants.
The Vaccines were a winner with the crowd who gathered thickly by the time they came on, and did a great job playing their top listed album of the year, 'What Did You Expect From the Vaccines?'. I had only just got it a few weeks ago and had no chance to give it a really fair go, but they pumped out a fantastic set showcasing the songs from it brilliantly. The more they played the more songs I recognized, now being one of those bands that play all those enjoyable songs I'd heard but didn't know the artist's name. The musicians were tight and mop topped frontman Justin Young was enigmatic, and replicated his signature drone excellently live. Crowds went crazy for their biggest hits e.g. "Post Breakup Sex", "Wolf Pack", but we left for OFWGKTA before they played gig buddy's most anticipated, "If You Wanna".
I decided long ago, after giving them a decent go, that I didn't really care for the Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All / Tyler the Creator/ Lets throw a few more words in that don't go together crew. Call me a stiff, but I don't have much time for annoying abrasive beats, yelling and lyrics about rape and killing homos and whatever else they've pissed Tegan and Sara off with. But the crew was keen so I bit my tongue. And after seeing their show... I really still don't like Odd Future. While they certainly got the crowd moving and were able to somehow generate energy even while lazing around onstage, they sounded awful, barking together words I couldn't understand (thankfully) and generally being quite average. The sound may have been better closer up, but the only beat or sound I could decipher was was on the crowd pleaser "Radicals" with it's poignant chorus "Kill people, burn shit, fuck school". I was happy to leave for Kimbra.
Kimbra was dressed in a manner that suggests she is attempting to do a Blasko and become NZ's answer to Björk in terms of quirk and style. Her colourful dress was pretty out there and she wore it with confidence that matched her onstage antics. I'm not the biggest fan of Kimbra's music, while I have much love for "Cameo Lover" and "Settle Down", I don't quite get the huge deal and find her slightly boring on record. However, watching her perform made me appreciate her a whole lot more and she managed to win me over a little. Kimbra threw her whole self into her performance, articulating every consonant and vowel with so much passion and facial expression. As a result, her voice was an exquisite centrepiece of each song, and completely enhanced the well performed music. It was a thrill to watch her completely enjoy herself doing this. I still don't think she could succeed in her quirk attempt because I doubt Blasko nor Björk could get away with saying things like “You guys hot down there 'cause it's a bit warm up ere!” and “Wow, I'm so glad you guys know my songs, it was a bit 'eavy goin' for a while there!” But that's part of why Triple J and the rest of Australia adore her.
After a relaxing sit at the Tony Hawk Vert Ramp, which was rained out prior to Tony's actual entry on to the ramp, we made our way to the D where Kasabian was just commencing their set. It was very, very weird not having to wait even a second to get through the barrier to the moshpit, where in previous years people were being crushed all over the place trying to get in, much earlier in the day than it was now.
Kasabian came on stage brooding a bit of smug wankery but generally delivering quite well with their distinctive britpop. They successfully pumped out a pretty decent collection of songs from all four of their albums, hooking the crowd in early with "Days Are Forgotten (from the latest, 'Velociraptor') then later favourites, "Shoot the Runner" and "Underdog". Naturally the set was very hit-driven, including of course their most Sunday Sport friendly, "Fire" as their prestige, but most surprising were the couple of selections from their first self titled album. It's the album I had first enjoyed, after picking it up on a whim so many years ago, and it was nice to hear them play the much more beats-driven "Club Foot" and singalong "L.S.F (Lost Souls Forever)". I've heard people criticize them for this, as it did kind of drag the momentum down for everyone else, but I was enjoying it.
I'm not going to lie though, I cheered pretty hard when Kasabian walked off stage, mostly because it meant Kanye West would be playing very soon. Oh, after Soundgarden.
For those who don't know, Big Day Out houses the headlining acts in two side by side stages, so that when the band on one side plays, the other next to it can soundcheck and be ready to play when the first finishes. Soundgarden was on the stage I wasn't waiting at, and for that reason I'm not going to review Soundgarden. Not only was I paying very little attention to them, but I've never been a fan and would be very biased, particularly as I was in 'lets get this shit cray muffukkas, ha!?' hip hop mood, not 90's Seattle grunge headbang mood.
Now, I'm no fool when it comes to BDO's scheduling boasting no gaps in between the two main stage acts. Kanye West (or Yeezy, if you're not sure who Yeezy is) is not going to take a few seconds to check everything is in order before prancing onstage saying 'how ya doin' brisbayne!!'. Also, I've rarely been to a show in which there wasn't at least a 20 minute wait for the next band to come on. So when 10 minutes passed before anything happened, I wasn't that bothered. I was excited along with my group, who had managed to gather in a prime spot, enhancing our collective excitement. The rest of the crowd, however, was already FUCKING PISSED OFF. As roadies came on and off, people began to scream "FUCK OFF!" as well as begin the most embarrassing chant of the bogan audience world; "BUUUUUULLLLSHIT". I couldn't restrain myself from yelling "SHUT UP!" back at them, horrified that all they would achieve was piss off the people trying to get the show happening, and of course, Kanye himself, who may well take offence (who knows, he's Kanye, he's been an unpredictable fellow in the past). Meanwhile, the whingey girl on my right had joined them, which made me even angrier. As she constantly complained that she was going to faint and this was ridiculous and she didn't even like Kanye that much anyway, everyone gave her a wide berth; which meant she had more space and air than anyone else in the mosh. But on and on she went, until she finally had enough and got herself pulled out (thank christ). UNSOLICITED ADVICE: If you don't really like the main act at a festival and you find yourself in a mosh pit, it's not worth it. Don't be in the mosh pit. Leave us fans to battle it out silently. Thankyou.
Anyway, forty minutes actually went by before we had any indication that Yeezy was about to come out. The speakers had apparently been screwed up by the rain (oh the questions, why weren't they covered, why couldn't you have told us that earlier, blah blah blah), leading to the delay, but luckily, five minutes later, thank god the lights began to dim.
The performance started with a backing intro of "H.A.M." off Kanye/Jay-Z's 'Watch the Throne', with a frenzy of dancers leaping around the stage in schizophrenic time with the music. Oh the joy and excitement! My year of becoming completely involved with Kanye's music was finally going to culminate in a hell of a stage show. This lead into "Dark Fantasy", and a moment of confusion where we could hear Yeezy's voice, but where was he? Not on the stage... Not in the audience... Oh look, turn around everyone! He's on a podium chair behind the audience. Why? Why not. This was his version of Michael Jackson's jetpack onstage entrance I suppose. He sang on his podium and then when the song finished he somehow found his way down through to the stage without getting mugged. Straight on into "Power", it was so very worth the 45 minute wait. I ended up flinging myself around with the crowd fully expressing my built up excitement for this moment.
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| yeah we know you think you are God... and that's okay. |
The music was mostly backing tracks throughout, but made more effective with Kanye's thundering vocals, the momentum built quickly and shot through. As each song began it was a joyous moment, with "Jesus Walks", "Hell of a Life", "Monster" and "Flashing Lights" allowing the crowd to very easily forgive him for the delay. The show was as big as his ego, i.e. enormous, and it was just what I had hoped for.
There were a couple of downsides however... One being, it was a bit odd not hearing the guest singers do their cameos. Of course it would have been impossible to get this to happen live, and I hadn't come to see Nicki Minaj so I wasn't that bothered, but the way it was handled was a bit disappointing. Instead of Kanye singing over it or doing a Royksopp (see earlier), they just canned those parts all together. Which did not allow for the same impact as these songs promised (e.g. see lady parts in "Monster", "ET" (which is Katy Perry's, so an odd choice anyway), and "All of the Lights").
The other down point was when Kanye went into '808's and Heartbreaks' mode. 808's is a stunning album and the first time I began to think Yeezy was actually of creative merit, however, it's a bit overshadowed by autotune and moping. Hence, not excellent for a festival performance. After three in a row "Love Lockdown", "Say You Will" and "Heartless", there was a collective feeling of discomfort and slight boredom at the downtempo material. The momentum took a while to build back up again. Kanye also used a lot of autotune in the show, which to me was a bit unnecessary- Cher may have needed it, but he really doesn't.
ANYWAY. It was good to hear some older songs I hadn't been too familiar with, including "Homecoming" which I didn't even realise I liked so much (luckily, you can't get rid of a guest vocal bit if it's the damned chorus), "All Falls Down" and "Through the Wire". It was also no Kanye show without a bit of amusing banter, for example when he stopped "All of the Lights" to command us to sing the words "MJ gone, our ni**a dead" again, louder, don't we realise that MJ IS GONE??!?. Similarly amusing was the breath-stopping moment when in between songs he suddenly came out with "She said, Ye can we get married at the maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall?" ("Niggaz in Paris" lyrics off 'Watch the Throne'), then laughed and said he better not do it without Jay-Z, hinting at a possible Australian 'Watch the Throne' tour. Yes pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease.
The crowning and perhaps most anticipated moment however was when the dancers came onstage with a giant sheet and spent a lot of minutes dancing underneath, until the sheet cloud went away and Kanye emerged, set up with his lone synth on a small glass podium, ready for "Runaway". He began to play his one note, with all the passion one note can exude. The music came on soon relieving him of this job (good work Kanye! Couldn't have done it without you!) and he let himself muck around with the sample keys a bit too freely (for the "who gotcha!" moments in the song). Like a big kid being allowed to play his pretend keyboard at an orchestral performance, it was hilarious.
The dancers were excellent and recreated the scene in the filmclip beautifully. As the song died down, one dancer remained, and Kanye continued with ad-libbed crooning, which extended into what felt like a ten minute rant about how "if you love someone tonight, you gotta hold them tight!" It was a sweet message, but it was incredibly indulgent and went on for too long, alienating the audience a little.
His final moments redeemed him however, with the Bonny Bear collaboration "Lost In the World", which I went cray for, as most people around me seemed too tired to bother. He ended on a lovely dedication to his mother, being of course "Hey Mama", which actually brought sobs to a few young girl's eyes.
Oh man, what a day. I was so grateful that Kanye made up for lost time by playing for about 2 hours, although this meant a few people had to leave early to make their shuttle buses. I could have stayed for another 2 hours, despite how exhausted I was for the next two days. Despite all it's expected, indulgent flaws, Kanye's show was just so thrilling, and the most memorable show of the day, as I expected.
As a whole, BDO was a terribly organised event, but wouldn't it be great if all BDO's had that small a crowd? It made places easier to get to, food and drinks quicker to get (despite me losing all my drink tickets at one point), and crowds easier to enjoy. As a result, I had a fabulous day. 8 out of 10 australian flag bikinis*.
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| And I bow down to you back, sir. |
*Because in previous years you could see about 1000 of these!
